In 2017, Super Lucky’s Tale released to not much fanfare and was basically treated as another platform title that got lost among the newer AAA blockbusters released at that time. Personally I remember playing it and not being overly impressed, while I only played a couple of levels before sadly never touching it again, until now. Fast-forward almost three years and as a bit of a surprise, the title has been released again as ‘New Super Lucky’s Tale’ developed by Playful Studios and published by Microsoft Studios. Originally, when this was announced as a remake my eyes glazed over and I was not excited. However, when it was announced it was coming to Game Pass and I was asked to review it, I decided to give it another go. And I am glad I did.
After playing the first couple of levels I was astonished and wondered what was so bad about the original version that I stopped playing it, as now I cannot put this one down. So I decided to go back to the original release and quickly noticed the glaring differences. Firstly, Lucky now moves more fluidly and the camera is not in a fixed position. The graphics have had an overhaul, along with the sound, cinematics and lighting. It is that much of a refurbishment and now feels like a new entry rather than a remake of a previous title.
In New Super Lucky’s Tale, the player takes on the role of a fox called Lucky, who ironically isn’t having much luck. Long story short, Lucky, his Sister and some of their friends protect a book called “The Book of Ages” and Lucky has been sucked into its pages as it was stolen by the evil Jinx and his “Kitty Litter”. The only way Lucky can return home is by traversing the worlds within the book and retrieve the stolen pages.
Each world is comprised of several levels that ultimately finishes with Lucky going up against one of Jinx’s Kitty Litter, each with their own unique personality. Within these worlds, each level has objectives that need to be completed to move onto the boss. These objectives are very family-friendly and even the newest gamer in the family should have success. The objectives include:
- Collect 300 coins – This happens naturally through the level and not once while playing the levels did I not collect 300. There are tonnes of coins and diamonds around to ensure that the player does not fall short.
- Get “Lucky” – Hidden in each level are the 5 letters to spell “Lucky”. These can be found around the map or awarded for completing a side quest in the level, such as saving all the baby chickens or clearing out a swarm of bees.
- Hidden Page – This is the hardest one to do as the player will need to explore the whole level and usually will involve a mini-game or surviving several waves of enemies.
- Complete the level – Yes, you get a page for just completing the level.
In each hub world there are also burrows, character missions or underground puzzles to solve that will award you with additional pages or hidden coins, there is plenty to discover. Some of the puzzles are deceptively tricky and are great for kids and adults to sit and work out together.
Despite several levels in each world, the player will only need to complete two levels in order to take on the boss and move onto the next section. The gameplay in New Super Lucky’s Tale is akin to titles like Crash Bandicoot and the many Mario titles. Lucky’s attacks are a simple tale swipe and he has the typical double jump. The level designs are varied, ranging from your standard 3D open level, 2D side-scrolling, top-down and my favourite, the Carnival Mini games level which is something different and unique. Boss fights are as easy as working out the routine and waiting to strike.
The controls are very simple, this makes the title easy to pick up for all ages and as once it is played for about 30 mins, the player would have mastered every trick Lucky knows.
There are a total of 54 achievements to unlock and if the player is someone who collects everything in a platformer, they should have no trouble here. The biggest negative is the game finishes in about 4 hours and the player will wish for more.
New Super Lucky’s Tale is a title for kids and big kids alike and a title that parents can be sure that their kids are not going to find too hard or scary. The bad guys are kid-friendly and similar to those found in a 90’s Disney cartoon. As a mascot, Lucky has a long way to catch Crash, Sonic and Mario but he had made a closer step towards them and I look forward to the next title in this series. I strongly recommend this game to everyone.
Final Verdict:
+ Great platforming
+ Beautiful visual design
+ Amazing sound
+ Lots of variations in each level
+ Great for all ages
+ Tonnes of replay
– Short in length
Score: 10/10
Anth for One More Game
New Super Lucky’s Tale was reviewed on Xbox One X via Game Pass and is also available on PC (Microsoft Windows).